Myozunitonirun the Wise
by Slavok
Summary: Louise had always thought herself to be a weak mage, but she wasn't. She was more powerful than she could ever comprehend. Zelda recognized her potential as soon as they met, and knew she only needed someone wise enough to guide her. Zelda, meanwhile, only needed someone powerful enough to challenge her greatest foe.
1. Chapter 1

Myozunitonirun the Wise

Chapter One

In his floating castle over an active volcano in the ruins of Hyrule, Ganondorf wrecked violent melodies through his organ. The disharmony echoed through the throne room and resonated in his bones.

It was, after all, his hour of triumph; such an event called for music.

Seven years. It took him seven years to find her. When he first gained the Triforce of Power, he had thought that was all he would ever need. He thought he could destroy anything with his power. The nightmare began when he discovered that he could.

His piece of the Triforce made him nearly omnipotent, but the power of the Goddesses offered no subtlety, no grace, and he became a giant ruling over a kingdom of ants. All that once was stone became glass to him, and the world shattered at his touch.

He pounded at the ivory keys before him, and his own form of music rang cruel. Castle Town had once been the most vibrant and vivacious city in the realm, and his mere presence had _murdered_ it. The sun itself, the Golden Tyrant of the Sky, hid from his view and nothing walked the once crowded cobblestone streets except the dead.

He had banished himself from his desert homeland once he realized what he could do. That was why he needed Zelda and her near omniscience to balance his brute force. For seven years he hunted her, pursued her, until today.

Because for the first time in seven years, Zelda—Princess of Destiny, Sage of Time, Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom—made a mistake. He snatched her from the Temple of Time the moment she revealed herself, but the thought gnawed at him that this was _somehow_ her plan all along.

He glanced up at her where she stood imprisoned in crystal. For the life of him, he couldn't see how any of this fit into her objectives. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide, and she was _powerless_. She had closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle, because that was the only option left for her.

This shouldn't have happened. Zelda shouldn't have been capable of error any more than Ganondorf was capable of dying. Either this was part of her elaborate plan to gain the upper hand, or the Triforce of Wisdom had a _flaw,_ a _weakness_ like the Sword of Evil's Bane was to him, and until he understood what that was …

A light appeared above him from within the crystal where Zelda stood imprisoned. It shone as bright as the sun, enveloped her, and stole her.

The light vanished as quickly as it had come. The crystal remained. Zelda did not.

"No!" he screamed, rising from his seat. "That's impossible! That's—"

The crystal shattered before his wrath, as well as the organ and much of the hall. But then another emotion usurped his rage and tugged at the corners of his lips.

"_Magnificent_."

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Louise de La Valliere, third daughter of the duke and student of the Tristain Academy of Magic, cast a spell, and the field exploded. So, nothing new. Louise was a weak mage, pure and simple, which would have been bad enough if she hadn't come from one of the most distinguished families in the kingdom, but as things were, she was a joke.

A joke that her classmates laughed at every chance they got.

"What a surprise," Montmorency, one such classmate, said with thinly veiled mirth. "Zero cast a spell, and something blew up."

It was jealousy, jealously trying to reassure itself. No one else in the academy came from a family as distinguished as she did, so they put her down every chance they got.

Unfortunately, they got that chance about twelve times a day. She had tried to summon a familiar, and just like the last three times she got nothing besides an explosion, and Louise the Zero lived up to her nickname once again because when the dust cleared … _wait a moment_ ...

In the middle of the field stood a beautiful monster.

And she _was_ beautiful, the creature Louise had summoned. She looked deceptively frail and delicate with ivory skin and the form of a slender young woman. She wore a carefully embroidered white gown with a soft violet blouse. The rich clothes, as well as the circlet on her head with a sapphire centered between golden laurels would have marked her as a princess of a royal family somewhere in Halkeginia, if it weren't for the long, pointed ears that marked her as an enemy of all mankind.

A shiver ran through her. She, Louise de La Valliere, called Louise the Zero for the unpredictable destruction unleashed by her spells, had summoned an elf.

_Oh, Founder, I've doomed us all._

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Zelda knew the difference between luck and fate. Luck was like rain, fate like a river. Luck might cause one to trip and fall, but it wouldn't grant a monster entry into the Sacred Realm and plunge the kingdom into seven years of darkness and ruin. Neither could mere luck raise up a champion and arm him with the one weapon that could challenge the might of a dark god.

She had been trapped, sealed in crystal in the King of Evil's fortress, practically under his nose … and now she was not. No coin flip, no dice roll could have freed her when the bearer of the Triforce of Power held her captive. It shouldn't have been possible at all, but probability, logic, and reality warped around the threads of destiny like a river carved into the earth.

But Zelda _knew_ all the prophecies. She had read them, studied them, and prophesied more than some of them. None of them said _anything_ about … _this._

The golden triangle on her right hand lit up. It whispered patience to her, and she relaxed.

_There is a plan,_ it said in a voice that felt like sunlight. _Not yours, nor his._ In her mind, she saw a new destiny pulling her from her predetermined path like an eddy in the stream of fate.

Zelda examined her surroundings. She wasn't in Hyrule; this land had a different ... breath. She felt the world turn beneath her feet, and she knew that she stood upon a stranger. Hyrule recognized her, but this place did not. Was she in one of the Mirror Worlds, like Lorule or Termina? Such a place would have its own prophecies, perhaps one independent of the Blessings of the Goddesses.

People surrounded her on the grassy field, but though they outnumbered her, their expressions and postures were filled with terror. Many backed away as though she were a wild animal loosed among them, others ran, and still others disregarded gravity entirely and flew.

No, despite what new destiny she was apart of now, these people had not expected her.

She needed time to think, but she was surrounded by fear, and fear was never patient. She held her hands out to show she was unarmed and said as gently as she could, "Be at peace. I mean no harm."

But if anything, her words made the people flinch and back up further. "Oh, _Founder!_" one of them gasped. "Louise summoned an _elf_!"

Zelda pondered the statement. It had four key words, and she only understood one of them. "Founder" seemed to be an oath of some kind, "Louise" a name, and "elf" … was that referring to her? If this Louise had summoned her, even on accident, then that made her a catalyst of fate.

Still, the most urgent issue was to calm the fears of those around her. Another might have tried to use their fears and pretended to be the "elf" they thought she was; she could craft a mask of lies and terror and drive them to do her will, revealing their secrets to her and telling her all they knew.

Instead, Zelda knelt down on the grass, closed her eyes, and waited.

The crowd fell silent, and their panicked cries gave way to whispers.

"What's it doing?"

"Did it fall asleep?"

"Quick, Professor! Blow it up before it wakes up!"

Zelda remained still. Sudden movements would spark conflict, and Zelda had built herself day by day to know how to avoid that. She had but one enemy, and the King of Evil could not be defeated by strength alone.

Instead, she began to hum. There was power in music, and even those too far away to hear the melody could be touched by it. She hummed a lullaby, the same one that Impa had sung to her during the kinder years of her childhood. The nights when Impa could promise her that she had nothing to fear were precious and few, and Zelda pushed that promise into her song.

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"Everyone, calm down!" Colbert said. "If the elf is not attacking us, then we are not going to provoke it! Her."

Louise finally spoke up. She had to. This was, after all, her fault. "Sh-should I finish the ritual?"

The crowd went silent like they always did when she was about to do something monumentally stupid while they were in the blast radius. Colbert looked down at her. "I ... I can't ask you to do that."

"If it works ..." she started. _It should control her._ _Keep her from hurting anyone. _Plenty of her classmates had summoned wild animals and magical beasts, but as soon as they completed the contract their familiars had become as tame and docile as household pets.

"But if it doesn't," he said, "then she'll start killing people. Beginning with you." He didn't remind her that throughout her entire life, she had only ever succeeded in casting one spell, today, and even that was a stretch. The Familiar Summoning Ritual was a sacred spell, and to have an _elf_ answer the call seemed perverse.

Still ... though her classmates called her Louise the Zero, she was Louise de La Valliere, and she _would_ live up to her name. Though her mistakes grew around her like grass in a field, she would face them, and not back down.

She stepped forward.

_So,_ she thought, _this is how I die._ Her feet ignored her and kept walking.

The elf didn't move. Maybe she didn't even hear her. She remained kneeling in the grass, not even opening her eyes. She looked like a princess, unless even elven commoners wore elegant gowns decorated in gold and gems.

"M-my name is Louise Françoice Le Blanc de La Valliere," she said as loudly as she dared, tracing her wand in the same motion she had practiced countless times before in preparation for this moment. "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Power, bless this, this _creature_, and make her my familiar."

There was only one step left, and then she would be done. She licked her dry lips and proceeded to toy with death one last time. _My first kiss_, some inane part of her mind thought. She didn't even like girls. Still, even she had to admit that she could do worse than an elven princess. _If nothing else, it will make for a good story._ If she lived long enough to tell it.

Louise leaned in close to the elf and pressed her lips against hers, and the world held its breath.

She pulled back and waited, not sure if the spell would work or do nothing or—

The elf _flinched_, her first uncontrolled movement since her arrival. She breathed in sharply, keeled forward, and clutched her hand against her forehead as her once serene face twisted in pain.

Louise fell backward—in a ladylike and dignified manner, and she wasn't going to let anyone claim otherwise—and saw a symbol appear on the elf's hand, a triangle made up of smaller triangles, shining as brightly as the sun.

Then the light faded, the elf's breathing slowed, and she rose to her feet. She opened her eyes that were so blue they made the clear sky seem pale, looked down at Louise, and extended her hand to help her up. "Hello, Louise," she said. "My name is Zelda. Thank you for bringing me here."

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Some time later, Zelda sat in Louise's bedroom, studying her reflection. After seven years disguised as a Sheikah, she was used to seeing a stranger in the mirror. She'd get used to seeing a set of runes written across her brow as well.

"So Brimir, the savior of your people, placed a special interest on these familiars, setting up the tradition for mages to summon one of their own," she said.

Louise nodded. "That's correct."

Myozunitonirun, the rune said. Louise couldn't read it, and Zelda shouldn't have been able to either, but the Triforce of Wisdom unlocked all secrets. Puzzles solved themselves for her in her mind without trying, doors unlocked themselves at her command, and any language she read translated itself. She didn't know what _Myozunitonirun _meant, but she expected to be able to figure that out in time as well.

As for what it was, it was a slave brand, burnt into her body and soul to subvert her will and imbue her with love and devotion for her "master." It didn't work, of course. Any piece of the Triforce would defend her against such a curse, and the Triforce of Wisdom was the strongest of the three when it came to protecting her own mind. Still, it soothed her to know that Louise knew little of the nature of the spell she had cast, and had acted out of misinformation and incorrect traditions instead of malice.

"Now tell me about the elves."

Louise hesitated, and her posture showed discomfort. "Well, it's just that they were what Brimir saved us from six thousand years ago when your people, um, tried to wipe us out. I know that was a long time ago, but there's still history, you know?"

Zelda frowned. Old enemies, and recognizable ones at that. "I see. And what makes you think I am one of these elves?"

She blinked. "Aren't you?"

Zelda shook her head. "I am Hylian. I have never heard of these elves you fear until today."

"But you have pointy ears!"

Zelda cocked her head. "Is that an unusual phenotype here? Ears come in all shapes in my home country." Round ears like Louise had were more common among the Gerudo than among the Hylians or the Sheikah, but compared to the stone-bodied Gorons or the aquatic Zoras, such differences seemed slight.

Louise stared at her. "So you can't do elf magic?"

"No, just Hylian magic."

Louise seemed both relieved and disappointed at this. "Is that any good? I know that elf magic is stronger than human magic, but where does High ... Hy-li-an magic fit in?"

"I have been able to get by," she said. "Though if you are seeking a being of great power with which to impress your friends, I'm afraid I shall disappoint you. What of human magic? Are all human mages as powerful as you?"

Louise hesitated. "Um, I'd say I'm about ... average." A lie. "Maybe a little below average. But I'm still learning."

Interesting. She was insecure. The girl had been able to snatch her from the grasp of the King of Evil himself, and she was _insecure_ about her abilities. Zelda studied her for a long moment until Louise grew uncomfortable.

"Tell me," Zelda said at last. "Are you learning, or merely being taught?"

"What?"

The latter, she decided. The second most impressive feat of magic Zelda had ever seen, and Louise had done it without meaning to. What would she be capable of when she finally knew what she was doing? Zelda had spent the last seven years preparing Link to fight her enemy, aiming him like an arrow. Perhaps when she returned to Hyrule, she'd have another in her quiver.

"Nothing," she said. "An idle thought, nothing more. The hour is late, and I'm sure you are tired."

Sure enough, the sun had long since set and a pair of moons had risen in its place. "Yeah, I guess." Louise looked at her bed, and seemed to realize that there wasn't a second one for Zelda. "Oh! Uh ..."

"Worry not. This chair is comfortable enough, and you have given me much to think about. It will be some time yet before I retire." The bed was wide enough for two, but Zelda was still a stranger and her presence would make Louise uncomfortable.

"Okay. If you say so."

As Louise prepared for bed, Zelda stared up at the night sky. Oddly, the stars bothered her more than the moons did. In Hyrule, Zelda had memorized the name of each one and learned the stories behind their constellations. Here they were a chaotic mess of nameless, scattered lights.

Still, she wasn't planning to stay long.

She pulled out her harp and began to play. It wasn't a magical instrument like the Ocarina of Time, merely a musical one, so Ganondorf had let her keep it when he had captured her. She first played a lullaby for Louise until she heard the girl's breathing slow. Then she played a song about a constellation that did not exist in this world. After that, she played a song about herself.

Her fingers plucked the strings, one by one and chord by chord. She always knew her mind best when she could hear it, and her life made more sense in song.

Besides, her destiny and the fate of all Hyrule had changed this night. Such an event called for music.


	2. Chapter 2

Myozunitonirun the Wise

Chapter Two

Zelda stood on the symbol of the Triforce in the Chamber of Sages in the Sacred Realm. Chamber had always seemed a poor description of the meeting place. There were no walls, just a raised platform surrounded by the endless void. But physical laws meant little here. Indeed, none of those present had even bothered to bring their physical bodies with them.

"You were captured," Rauru, Sage of Light, growled. He didn't mention that her capture had taken place in the Temple of Time, which he still guarded even in death—as much as he could. He was Hylian and had tutored Zelda during her childhood, and Ganondorf had murdered him the same night Zelda's father died. It was under his guidance, pre and post mortem alike, that Zelda was able to acquire the light arrows to give to Link.

"You escaped?" Impa, Sage of Shadow, asked. She was Sheikah—the last Sheikah, and with her death the tribe that had for so long protected the royal family had gone extinct. Still, shadows lingered, and many Sheikah became more powerful from the grave.

Nabooru, Sage of Spirit, laughed. "I wish I could have seen the king's face when that happened." She was Gerudo, and was the leader that her people should have had. She had grown up under Ganondorf's rule, but when she tried to oppose him she was captured, brainwashed, and spent seven years as a puppet. Zelda had never known the Sage of Spirit in life, but Nabooru sought Ganondorf's demise with the vicious glee for which her people were known and feared.

Zelda, Sage of Time, held up a hand. "Peace, friends. Much has changed since last we spoke. We will need to modify the plan."

"Modify?" Ruto, Sage of Water, repeated. Zelda knew the Zora princess from the times when their respective royal fathers had business together and had assumed that the fact that they were of the same age and social standing meant that they would become friends. They hadn't, and Ruto's feelings for Link, who had sought the Zora's Sapphire on Zelda's behalf had not helped matters. Still, the fate of Hyrule came before personal grudges. "Fantastic, Zelda. I'm so glad we're changing the plan now after I already died for the first plan."

"Ah, don't stress it, Zora," Darunia, Sage of Fire said. He had been the patriarch of the Goron tribe, and had accepted both Zelda's father and Link as sworn brothers, the highest honor a Goron could give an outsider. Gorons were beings of incredible momentum, and dying had not slowed him down. "We were all going to die anyway, so it might as well be for the crisis of our age."

"I wasn't," Saria, Sage of Forest said. She was Kokiri, and though there was no tree left in the forest older than she, Kokiri remained children their whole lives. Link had been raised among the Kokiri, and Saria was his oldest and closest friend. "What happened?"

"I have fallen into another world," Zelda explained. "We must not confront the enemy until either I am able to return or we find a way to bring both him and Link here. Until then, there are new forms of power here that I would like to study for any advantage they might yield."

Saria nodded. "I'll ask Link to hold back the next chance I get." She had shared a song with the hero, a bond that transcended time, space, and even death. Just as the Lost Woods connected distant parts of Hyrule, their song connected them.

"Will you seek to return?" Rauru said. "Or will you seek to bring the enemy away?"

At the moment Zelda had no way of doing either, but that wasn't what the Sage of Light was asking. It was better to fight battles in one's own country because detailed knowledge of the environment yielded an advantage to the defenders. It was also better to wage wars in a distant country, for the war's ruin could scar the land for ages to come.

According to both rules, Halkeginia was the superior battlefield. Zelda would know its secrets far more fully than Ganondorf would when he arrived, and the King of Evil's presence had nearly broken Hyrule already. Zelda was not sure if her kingdom could recover from the final battle.

But ... but this was not Halkeginia's fight. Zelda's choices—no, her mistakes—had nearly doomed Hyrule. Could she consign a second world to that same fate?

She knew the right choice, but she also knew the smart choice.

She hesitated before the Sages.

"I ... don't know."

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The Princess of Destiny had been blessed with an east-facing window, and she observed the rising sun as she gathered her thoughts. She had spent half her life studying under the man who would later become the Sage of Light and the other half learning the Sheikah arts under the future Sage of Shadow, leaving her as something in the middle.

The same could be said for all three of them. Link was stuck between the past and the future, traveling through time as a child in an adult's body or an adult in a child's. Ganondorf was something between a man ... and a demon. And a god, but that too could be said for all three of them.

Louise stirred and woke up, but she gave a start when her sleep-dulled eyes fell upon Zelda. No, she thought as Louise began preparing for the day. This will not work. Louise knew rationally that Zelda was no elf, but reason meant little when confronted with a primal fear.

"Louise," Zelda said as Louise began fastening the buttons on her blouse. "Would you help me with something? I would like to be more presentable now than I was yesterday."

"Um, okay, what do you ..." Her voice trailed off as Zelda reached through her soft, pink hair and cupped her definitively human ears.

"Hold still." A physical body was as transitive as a spiritual one, and Zelda had spent the past several years as a Sheikah instead of as a Hylian, with the biology, metabolism, and longevity of one the Shadow Folk. In comparison, this was as simple as putting on a different hat. She felt her ears shrink and round themselves, molding into a copy of the pair Louise had.

Louise's eyes widened as she pulled away. "Can all elves do that?"

"I would not know," Zelda said. "I am not an elf."

"Right," Louise said quickly, though she sounded more intimidated than convinced. "But, well, everyone's already seen you when I summoned you. They're going to know that that's an illusion."

"Everyone?" Zelda repeated. "One hundred percent of the people here?"

Louise hesitated. "Well, my year. And only one of the four summoning sessions, so a third of a fourth. Still, they would have told everyone now, because an elf coming to school isn't something people keep quiet about!"

One twelfth? That was nearly ideal. "By now the truth would be stretched thin through rumor. Many will have heard that an invading army has arrived, while others will believe that nothing happened at all. Like a pendulum, belief hesitates near pure skepticism and pure gullibility while speeding past the middle. We need merely to tip the balance. I am a human from the distant, but not too distant, land of ..." She gestured for Louise to fill in the blank.

"Um, I don't know, Rub' al Khali?"

They spent a few minutes solidifying Zelda's history, and then left the sanctuary of Louise's bedroom to test it out. They did not make it past the door before they had their chance.

The hall was filled, not with passing students, but with an angry mob of young mages with their wands drawn, standing behind a trio of animated suits of armor.

"Hey!" Louise said, pushing her way forward. "What in Brimir's name is going on here?"

There was a moment of hesitation in the mob as they waited for a spokesperson to volunteer. A fair faced young man with styled blond hair cleared his throat. "Louise! You're still alive! Good. Now step away from the elf before someone gets hurt!"

Louise drew her wand. "Yeah? Someone's going to get hurt if you lot don't get out of my way!"

Zelda put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. While she was confident in the girl's raw power, she knew little of Louise's combat skills, and she wished to avoid senseless conflict. "What elf do you speak of, good sir?" she said, stepping forward.

A hush fell over the crowd, then a susurration arose.

"Is that it?"

"What's going on?"

"She doesn't look anything like an elf!"

"Wait!" the spokesman said loudly. "This is clearly an elf trick! I saw the elf with my own eyes when she was summoned. Clearly she has ... chopped her ears off!"

Zelda pulled her hair back to reveal the pair of ears she had copied from Louise and said nothing.

"She ... might have used elf magic to disguise herself," another member of the mob suggested.

"Yeah!" the spokesman said. "Like I said! An elf trick! We will have to, um ..."

"Hold an inquisition?" someone suggested.

"Yes! We will hold a holy inquisition to, to determine the falsehood of this elf's humanity!"

The crowd cheered. Nothing riled up an angry mob like opportunities for violence under a pretense of justice.

"Oh goody," Louise said. "I can't wait. Especially for the part where you all get tried for heresy for launching an unsanctioned inquisition! I hear they boil you alive for that sort of thing."

The spokesman hesitated. "Then we'll ... hold her until a bishop arrives!"

"Yeah!"

"For humanity!"

This was getting out of hand, but despite their bravado, the mob made no move forward. They wanted to provoke her to violence so they could retaliate without reservation, but no one wanted to be the one to strike first. It was like a man taunting a dog until it bit him so he could justify putting it down, and the mob would only provoke her more and more until it got what it wanted. There was only one way out of the situation that Zelda could see. It wouldn't be pretty, but she had been forced to do distasteful things in the past to stay alive. This was no different. She let go of her pride, and resorted to flattery.

"Hold a moment," Zelda said. She spoke softly, but in a voice that could pierce the mad ravings of the mob. "Whose constructs are these?"

"Uh, what?" the spokesman said. Like most seeking violence, he had ill prepared himself to face anything else. Zelda had not numbers on her side, so civility would serve as her sword and shield. "They're mine, actually."

His? That worked in her favor. "The craftsmanship is exquisite. Anyone could have made a crude weapon, but allowed your artisan's soul to shine through your work. Marvelous, truly. What is your name?"

The boy hesitated, and even began to blush. He cleared his throat and, switching internal gears, attempted to embrace the praise instead of hide from it. "I see you have a discerning eye. Guiche the Brass is my name, son of General Gramont."

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Guiche the Brass, and I must applaud your courage for coming to challenge an elf with so few under your command." The crowd reacted to this, some chafing under the word, command, while others wilted under the word, few. "I wish only that we could have met under more pleasant circumstances. Now, if I may put your concerns to rest, you're here because my appearance has changed since I was summoned. I cannot say for certain what phenomenon caused that, but I can only guess that the spatial distortion necessary to bring me from my home led to a temporary visual distortion that has since then, as you can see, worn off. Does that satisfy you?"

Guiche hesitated. "Um ..."

A round-faced boy spoke up. "She's saying that Louise summoned her wrong and made her look funny."

"Hey!" Louise said. "I summoned her perfectly, Malicorne!"

Zelda put a hand on Louise's shoulder. "If you are still unsatisfied, then apply logic to the evidence you already have before you. If an elf were to be accosted by a small group of inexperienced mages, what would happen to them?"

The mob fell silent.

"They'd get turned to dust," Louise said. The glint in her eyes suggested that she was relishing that mental picture.

"An astute observation, Louise." She turned back to the mob, her voice absolutely calm. "Now, you may notice that instead, I have endured your accusations and your insults for several minutes now, and yet you are all still here." She let that statement hang in the air for a moment. "You may go."

The crowd shuffled away like a group of scolded children while muttering apologies, and Guiche's golems followed close behind. Soon the only people who were left in the hallway were Zelda, Louise, and a woman Zelda reflexively thought of as a Gerudo.

She wasn't, but with her red hair, tan skin, and long legs, she could have walked into the western desert and no one would have questioned her.

"Kirche," Louise said, and there was enmity in her voice—a history of enmity. "Those boys were your doing?" It was a question, though barely.

The woman, Kirche, raised an eyebrow. "Really? Frankly I'm insulted that you'd think I would send a lynch mob your way. I'm not the only girl in this school who can rile up a crowd of passionate young men, though I admit I was surprised to find them on your doorstep. I just came out to see what they were after, and honestly?" She looked Zelda up and down. "Not impressed. Your familiar's pretty, I'll grant, but she doesn't look like she's any fun at all."

"I confess, I am not," Zelda said. She looked foreign, as far as Zelda could tell, tall and tan skinned in contrast to Louise and the recently departed mobsters who had been shorter and lighter. Kirche hadn't chosen her ancestry, but she had chosen her hair style—long and coquettishly covering one eye—and had chosen to leave every button on her blouse unfastened that she could get away with without causing a scandal. Beyond that, her tone was as playful as Louise's was cold. All these details drew a picture in Zelda's mind. "Tell me. If things had turned ugly with those overzealous young gentlemen, would you have intervened?"

For a moment, a look of discomfort marred Kirche's features, but it passed, and her mask returned. "Of course. I can't abide ugly, and I'm not about to let Louise the Zero hog all the attention, even if it's for harboring ... elves."

"She's not an elf you stupid cow!" Louise spat.

Zelda put a hand on her shoulder. It was not divine magic that calmed Louise, but a simple, friendly presence. Sometimes, that was all it took. "Thank you, then, for your concern. I am grateful that your help was not needed, but more grateful that there were others looking out for us."

Loiuse turned on her and pulled away. "What are you doing? Don't thank her! She's the enemy!"

No she's not. You are two children playing a game, and only you think the game is real. Zelda thought that, but she didn't say it. She was a guide, not a warrior, and she could not push, only pull. "Of course," she said instead, and the two of them went down for breakfast.

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"Look! That's her!"

"Where?"

"Right next to Louise. The only noble girl in the hall not wearing a school uniform."

"That's her? She doesn't look anything like an elf!"

"She did yesterday. Didn't she? Back me up here."

"Um, well, I think we may have been too hasty in our judgement."

"What? Since when? You were all gung ho about saving the school and becoming heroes earlier!"

"Yes, well that was before I got a decent look at her. After careful consideration, I have determined that Louise's familiar is one hundred percent human."

"... Is that because she said that if we kept on bothering her, she'd turn us to ash?"

"No! Also, she never said that. I don't know where you got that idea."

"Oh, I know! It's because she said she liked your valkyries."

"Yes, well, that was a clear example of the human concept of beauty, which elves do not have. No one could ask for clearer proof than that."

"So ... should we do something? Summon a bishop or send word to the queen?"

"Erm ..."

"The headmaster already knows, doesn't he?"

"Of course! He'd have to, right?"

"Right! So ... let him handle it."

"Yes, yes, he knows what to do."

"Absolutely. And ... and if he turns to dust in the near future ..."

"Then we'll know who did it. Though, it's not like she's hurting anyone right now, is she?"

"No ... do you think she'll start?"

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Loiuse expected the inquisition to arrive sometime in the next few days, but they never did. Maybe Headmaster Osmond intervened, or maybe the other students decided to wait to see if Zelda was actually dangerous before panicking.

Zelda continued to create a stir throughout the Academy, but that became less due to the possibility that she was an elf (which she continued to deny), and more to her presence, which she could not hide. She had a voice that sounded like it was made of light, warm and serene, but so distant. She always knew what to say to deflect insults, investigations, and, as became more common over time, compliments and invitations, and she did it all without any offense given or taken.

"Zelda, which element do you favor?" one might ask, for she was clearly a noble and therefore a mage and so had an affinity for one of the four elements.

"Truth," she would reply, and then would discuss philosophy with the hapless individual until he ran away.

Anyone might take her for a disinterested visitor, except for the moments when she accompanied Louise to class. There she studied the different professors with such focus, she seemed to be pulling information out of them like water from a well. She asked no questions in class lest she reveal her ignorance of things that every human knew, but that did not protect Louise from her queries when they were alone.

"Where do the words come from?" Zelda asked one day. "How does the mage know what to say to cast a spell?"

"Normally she reads a spellbook," Louise said.

"And the author who wrote the spellbook? Did someone else tell her, who learned it from another, back to the dawn of creation? Did the gods of your people appear out of divine light to illuminate the minds of your ancestors with truth? Or do you speak in an ancient language with which you may command the elements to do your bidding?"

"Um, I think the mage just ... knows what to say." That was almost a question when Louise said it. "Spell crafting is a third-year subject, and I'm still struggling with what they teach the first year students."

"So they offer the foundational theory to the graduating class, while abandoning the younger alumni to flounder for years in ignorance and rote memorization."

Loiuse resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "If you want to apply for a teaching job, you can always speak with the Headmaster."

Zelda shook her head, missing or ignoring the sarcasm. "The only student I'm interested in is you, and I don't need the Headmaster's permission for that."

Louise wondered about that. Since her arrival, Zelda seemed dead set on teaching Louise magic, which was odd because Zelda could not do human magic, and every spell Louise had ever cast had blown up in her face.

"This," Zelda said softly, "calls for research."

"Oh, great," Louise said, being led, once more, to the library. "I've summoned Tabitha."

"Hm," Zelda said, as though only partially listening. "Fascinating young woman. Has she ever told you her real name?"

"Um, that is her real name."

Zelda hesitated and glanced at her. "Of course."

"Isn't it?"

"A question for another time. My apologies."

Louise shook her head and followed her familiar. Zelda had odd ideas sometimes; it came from looking so closely at people, she saw things that weren't there. That was why she had assumed that Louise had ... how had she put it? Power to strain the limits of her mortal coil. Well. Maybe Zelda decided that if she was going to be a familiar, she might as well be a familiar to a powerful mage instead of one ... like her. Eventually, Zelda would realize the same thing that Louise's classmates, teachers, and even her family had discovered long ago, but for now ... for now, the dream was pleasant. Louise was unused to flattery, and if her familiar was going to have delusions of grandeur on her behalf, she was in no haste to enlighten her.

"So, what are we looking for?" Louise asked after they arrived. "Spellbooks are over here, divided by element."

Zelda peered down the aisles lined with books, scanning the sections. "Spellbooks? No. Spellbooks have only words. Words unlock your power, but the ones in these books do not control them, and unbridled magic will not serve you."

"Well, we could try the restricted section." One of the professors might sign a pass for her, and if not, well, sneaking in would be more exciting.

Zelda shook her head. "What we seek is not a guarded secret, but something overlooked. Magic is in your breath, Louise, but no one would write instructions on how to breathe and hide it away. Magic is in your blood, but if there were a book that taught you how to make your heart beat faster, where would it be?"

"The romance section?" Louise said dryly. "Maybe in a love poem?"

Zelda stared at her with her piercing gaze that seemed to look through her eyes and focus directly on her brain. "You," she said, "are a creature of great insight, Louise. That will serve you better than any spell you ever learn."

Loiuse tried not to blush, pretending as though she received such praise every day. Still, her chest swelled up a bit and her steps felt lighter, even as she followed Zelda to the romantic fiction section of the library to study poetry as though the secrets of the universe lay within its verses.

Maybe they did. Louise got lost somewhere in The Assorted Verses of the Baroness of Flame while Zelda went on to study historical poems, children's limericks, and even a compilation of religious hymns.

By the time the library closed for the night, Louise wasn't even sure what they were supposed to have been searching for, but that didn't matter. Zelda found was she needed, and was convinced that in a day, she would have a spell Louise could cast.

WWW

A/n Thank you everyone for your reviews. Hopefully, this story continues to hold your interest. Also, for no reason at all, here's an omake. It's not really canon and isn't essential to the story, but you may enjoy it all the same. Enjoy!

Omake

Three goddesses gathered around their world in preparation for what they expected to be the final session of their ageless conflict.

"So," Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom said as she sat down. "Who wants to recap last session?"

"Ooh, me!" Farore, Goddess of Courage said. "Last time Link reached the sixth sage, got the last medallion, and finally reunited with Princess Zelda, who was Sheik the whole time! I totally did not see that coming." She frowned. "Though in retrospect, I probably should have been more suspicious when you started playing her after the time skip. I thought you just rolled a new character; I didn't think you'd try to multiclass."

"And then I captured her," Din said proudly. She was the eldest sister, the Goddess of Power. "Finally. I can't wait to wrap this up. Seriously, we should have finished this campaign seven years ago."

Eons ago at the birth, Din had drawn the maps, Nayru had devised the game mechanics and come up with all the rules, and Farore had filled out the bestiary and written character sheets for all the NPCs.

Nayru frowned and moved papers around before looking under the table. "Hey, where did you put my figurine?"

"What?" Din asked.

"My Zelda figurine. It was here last week, then you took it when Ganondorf used his diablo ex machina move. Where'd you put it?"

"I ... I didn't put it anywhere."

"Yes you did," Farore said, chiming in. "I remember. You were running around with it laughing maniacally."

"I did not! Besides, I was roleplaying. Okay, I remember now. I put her in my throne room, so Zelda should be right here." She pointed at an empty square on the map. "Here-ish."

"Zelda rolled for stealth!" Farore said. "Nat twenty!"

"Not now, Farore," Din said. "Okay, it must have fallen off or something. Just use the Sheik token. That's what you've been working with for more than half the game already."

Nayru gave her an afronted look. "Seriously? I am not playing the last encounter with the wrong token! That would just be ... wrong. Besides, there's another problem. My character sheet's gone too."

"What?"

The Goddess of Wisdom nodded. "I left it right here when we left off, and now it's gone."

The three goddesses stared at the empty patch of table. "Can you ... make a new one?" Farore suggested.

Nayru winced. "A new one? I mean, I remember the basics, and I took some notes. But ... it will take a while. We may need to put the game on hiatus until I'm back up to speed."

"No!" Din said, standing up. "No freakin' way! For a campaign called The Ocarina of Time, we've spent more time on hiatus than actually playing! We put everything away for seven blighted years, and we're not pushing it back another week!"

"Hey!" Nayru said. "It's not my fault that happened! I didn't write the rulebook for fun, you know. If anyone besides me would read the darn thing, you'd know that according to the Master Sword entry on page one-forty-two, the chapter about the Sacred Realm on page eighty-seven, and the Alignment and Description listing found on page thirteen, you would know that a Hylian is not considered an adult until the age of sixteen, requiring Link to go into stasis during that time period."

Din gave her a flat look. "And ...?"

Nayru looked away. "And ... I had a term paper to work on."

"Exactly. I had nothing to do except to draw up extra maps, and the only person that hurt was Farore! Do you really want to go through that again?"

Farore hung her head. "I don't want another Water Temple. That was worse than the well."

"It won't be that long," Nayru promised. "I'll have it done by Thursday at the latest. In the meantime, let's just say that Zelda ... mysteriously disappeared."

"Well," Farore said, looking up, "if the princess is in another castle, I'm not crossing the rainbow bridge over a pool of lava. I'm going fishing!"

Din turned on her. "Hey! No metagaming, Farore. Not cool."

Farore waved her finger. "It is completely in character for Link to go fishing at a time like this. He's done it before. I might even try that last archery minigame too while I'm at it."

Nayru began putting away her notebooks when a thought struck her. "Hold on. I didn't move her. You didn't move her. You didn't either—did you?"

Farore shook her head. "Nope."

"And my Zelda figurine didn't get up and walk away with her own character sheet. That means that at some point between last week and right now, someone must have broken in here, interfered with our campaign, and—"

"And stole my princess!" Din shouted.

"Well, my princess, technically, but yes."

"I'll kill him! I'll find out where he lives and burn his freakin' house down!" She took a deep breath. "Wanna come, Farore? I'll let you smash their pots."

"Okay," the youngest goddess said. "Right after I finish fishing." She rolled the die and added the appropriate modifiers. "Let's see, a seventeen, what is that? I got a carp, neat! Carpe diem!"


End file.
